Forever
by chubbynlite
Summary: A short drabble series from Huey’s perspective on his relationship with Jazmine.
1. Putty

**Putty **

I remember the very moment that I realized that I liked you. It was during lunch in the sixth grade, you were talking up a storm, per usual. We were sitting in the cafeteria and you were eating pizza. I remember because I was worried that you weren't breathing, the way you inhaled your food and talked at the same time. I was ready to save you if you started choking.

Then you just looked at me.

That's it, that's all that there was to it.

It wasn't anything other than your normal look, except this time, I felt my stomach drop and my heart quicken. I'm pretty sure that I was blushing too.

Ever since then... I've been putty in your hands, Jazmine.


	2. Pang

**Pang**

I learned at a young age how terrible jealousy was.

Despite having two 'girlfriends' under my belt at the time, the minute I found out that you had a boyfriend, I thought my world was gonna end.

I felt like I was losing my best friend, for one. It wasn't until after you stopped coming by to talk to me at lunch that I realized that your boyfriend was the reason we were talking less.

That realization was the first true pang of jealousy over any girl that I had ever felt.

What hurt even more was knowing how much I liked you and having to wonder if you really liked him. Or if you were kissing him. Or when you'd break up with him and start hanging out with me again.

So when you came up to the hill one day after school, crying your eyes out that he had broken up with you, I had to act like my normal quiet self when I couldn't have been any happier.


	3. Nothing

**Nothing**

It wasn't until after I'd had two serious girlfriends that I knew I wanted to be with you. It's not that I didn't like them, cause I did… they were pretty, smart, funny, unproblematic — all the stuff that I wanted in a girlfriend.

But it never felt right.

So after that, I stayed single. Few dates here and there, a bit of talking… but nothing concrete.

I focused on myself. Tried to stay out of trouble as much as possible, which was hard as a Freeman.

Jealousy was a constant feeling as I watched you grow into herself and gain attention from our peers.

For some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to tell you how much I liked you. Sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth… nothing.

Friends, that was all that we were.


	4. Hydrated

**Hydrated**

Even though Cindy was a pain in my ass growing up, I had to be grateful for her. She was the whole reason for our first kiss, remember?

It was the summer going into junior year and Cindy's parents were gone so she invited all of us over to her house. The whole crew — me, you, Riley, Caesar, Hiro.

Like dumb teenagers do, we got drunk.

Mostly everyone had passed out. I'm pretty sure Riley and Cindy were up in the room having sex.

It had to be almost 2 in the morning and you were complaining that you were going to be so hungover in the morning. I told you that was what happened when you didn't stay hydrated, like the smartass I am.

And even though you were drunk as shit and an absolute mess, I still thought you looked cute.

It was the liquid courage that gave me the balls to kiss you.

And to my surprise, you kissed me back.


	5. Pathetic

**Pathetic**

After that kiss, things… were lowkey weird. I remember being worried that I had done something wrong and made you feel weird. On top of that, I was worried that you regretted kissing me.

I avoided you as much as humanly possible.

I wanted to kiss you, but I didn't want it to be drunk you.

Then one day you texted me, maybe two weeks after our kiss, and told me to meet you up on the hill.

That was where you told me how you felt about me.

I still was too chicken to admit that I liked you so I blamed it on the alcohol. I remember feeling so guilty as I watched the color drain from your face.

You laughed it off, but I could tell that you were hurt.

As you walked down the hill, I could only feel pathetic for not being brave enough to tell you how I felt.


	6. Punk

**Punk**

Sometime during junior year, I stopped playing games. I think it's when I overheard a few guys talking about you in the gym locker room.

That's when I knew that I had to stop being a punk about telling you. But this time, I was worried that I had waited too long.

Words weren't my strong suit at the time. I was still coming into myself and who I was… but despite that, I wrote you a letter. I didn't want to face being rejected in person and I didn't want to text it to you.

A letter felt like a good idea. If it went bad, I could act as if it never happened.

Despite my worst fears, you came up to me while we waited for the bus to come pick us up.

You still liked me. You wanted to go on a date with me.

It took me two days of begging to get Granddad to let me borrow his car for an evening. Our first date was at that fancy Italian restaurant you insisted that we go to.

The food was amazing, but it gave me the shits.


	7. Future

**Future**

Things after that seemed to move so fast… junior year, junior project, junior prom. Summer came. We had a lot of firsts.

First time having sex. First time spending the night at each other's house. First real argument. First conversation about our future together.

It was obvious that we felt a lot for each other. So, what were we going to do for college? I didn't want to stay in Woodcrest. I wanted to go back to Chicago, get back to my roots.

You didn't know what you wanted to do, but you were so attached to your mom and dad. I couldn't really relate… you had never been without your parents but I had grown up without mine. I would miss my family, but I was ready to dip and do my own thing as soon as it was my time to do so.

We decided together to apply to our top choices and see what would happen after we got some acceptance letter.

Summer went.


	8. Typically

**Typically**

Remember that time you thought I had cheated on you?

I knew that I didn't cheat, but I was still so scared I was going to lose you. Very rarely were you the type to yell and scream in anger, but that day you screamed at me so much that you lost your voice.

I don't even really remember the logic behind why that happened, even today. Something about you hearing some girl talk about she heard that. Bullshit that you didn't typically give in or are about.

But that fear that I felt I was going to lose you, I knew then that I was in love with you. And when you nearly lost your voice yelling at me, I knew that you felt the same.

It may not have been the healthiest way to come to that realization but… we were teenagers.


	9. Joke

**Joke**

Senior year was hard and expensive.

Between college applications, senior project, senior prom, and senior photos… I was hung out to dry. I was broke as a joke. Everything I had to pay with my own money.

Partially because Granddad was still greedy and partially because I didn't accept help from anybody.

So between working and school and college… we barely even saw each other. Barely even spoke.

Even though we lived right across the street from each other.

I was in my zone, working on a schedule to get my shit done. But I had forgotten to include you in that. I didn't even realize that you were mad at me until Riley brought it up.

By then, it was too late and you broke up with me.

Of course, it didn't last long. A few days of apologizing, promising to be better in the future and you weren't mad anymore.

That forgiving nature of yours has always been my favorite part of you.


	10. Scholarships

**Scholarships**

College decisions came in… slowly but seemingly all at once.

I had gotten accepted into 4 of my choices. One of them had given me a full scholarship. One had given me a partial scholarship. I knew that I'd have to take the one with the full scholarship.

Just my luck that it was in Chicago, exactly where I wanted to go.

You had gotten accepted into all 5 of your choices. It wasn't surprising, considering you were close to the top of the class. 3 full scholarships. You weren't too worried though, since your parents would pay for your school.

You applied to the same school as me, and of course, you got in… but your heart was already set on another school with an excellent nursing program. One that wasn't in Chicago but in North Carolina.

I thought that that was going to be the end of us…


	11. Flew

**Flew**

We decided we'd try long distance.

I was hopeful but doubtful that it'd truly work out. You seemed completely secure in the fact that it'd be fine. You'd come fly in and visit often.

Senior year finished, graduation flew by.

Our summer was spent just head over heels in love, enjoying every moment that we had together. We both knew how hard it would be to go from living across the street from each other to being in different time zones.

It was one of the best summers in my life, except for that pregnancy scare you had.

We road tripped. Went everywhere we could possibly think of going. It had flew by so fast but I had forgot that we were both going to be leaving at the end of it.


	12. Again

**Again**

You left two days before I did. Riley made fun of my 'sulking' in that two day gap. It felt bad but I ultimately survived.

Then I was on my way to school.

Between the hustle and bustle of moving in, starting classes, making new friends and catching up with old ones… we had barely talked. I tried to make myself feel better by saying that you were just as busy as I was and that it wasn't a bad thing.

It was mid-semester when we broke up again.

This time, it was me that broke up with you.

Cindy called me to curse me out. Riley told me I was making a dumb decision (but that he understood).

I still loved you but between the distance and the girls on campus... it was hard. And I wasn't going to cheat on you.

You blocked me off of everything and I still read through our messages whenever I wasn't doing anything.


	13. Counters

**Counters**

Hard to say out of sight, out of mind but… life did move on. With me blocked I couldn't see what was going on with you. I only heard major things from Riley which he heard from Cindy.

I had a girlfriend that year, she was pretty sweet. A history major, just like me. She broke up with me on account of her needing to focus on classes.

It had stung initially but I couldn't blame her for putting school first.

I came home for winter break, you had come home too. It was only inevitable that we'd run into each other. It was obvious that you had avoided me though.

While your parents and my granddad went out to eat, I snuck over to your house to talk to you.

I wanted to apologize, to make it up to you. But in the heat of the moment we ended up having sex on the kitchen floor. Only because you thought it would be disrespectful to do it on your parents kitchen counters.

You slapped me right after we finished, telling me to get the fuck out.

It was pretty confusing but great timing since everyone got home twenty minutes later.


	14. Wedge

**Wedge**

Winter break flew by, you hadn't bothered to talk to me again. I figured that I should just mind my own business and leave you alone.

Spring semester started back up again.

One night, when I couldn't get you off my mind, I looked up your Instagram and to my surprise, I wasn't blocked.

I took a chance and DM'd you and it was just my luck that you didn't leave me on read. That was all I needed to wedge myself back into your life.

I was happy to be friends with you, to have you back in my life. I didn't want to lose that, so I stayed respectful, didn't make any moves.

We were just friends, like the good old days.


	15. Impatient

**Impatient **

I made my move that summer though.

There was no way that I was going to let you go again. Forget the girls at school, I wanted to make you one of my priorities.

It took some convincing, trying to get you to say yes. You took a whole month to decide. I think that it was because you just liked seeing me wait, knowing how impatient I was.

But like always, I was putty in your hands.

That summer was just like the previous, but better. I had higher hopes. Better expectations. I just knew that we would last, that we would make it work out.

I just knew that it would be the two of us for the rest of my life.


	16. Perfectly

**Perfectly**

Sophomore year, despite us both being busy, we managed to see each other twice a month. You paid for the plane ticket to Chicago. I took you out to eat and treated you the best I could with my limited funds.

It was hard having privacy in a dorm room, but we made it work.

Other than that, we kept each other in mind. Good mornings, good nights, good lucks. A few pictures and videos here and there… a few FaceTime calls when we happened to have our rooms to ourselves at the same time.

It wasn't easy but I knew every time that I'd come home to see you during our breaks that it was well worth it. My only problem was that our school schedules didn't overlap perfectly.


	17. Blubbering

**Blubbering**

It was junior year, right after midterms, when I had received the second worst news in my life, right after my parents death.

Riley called me, blubbering like a baby.

It was unsettling, listening to him sob. Tear up, shed a tear maybe… but sob? Nah… not Riley.

My first thought was that it was Granddad. I was ready to book a flight and head right back to Woodcrest as soon as the thought hit my mind.

Except it was about you…

You had been hit head on the highway by a drunk driver at 9:30 pm. He had swerved over the median and drove straight into your car.

Dead on arrival.

Nah… it had to be a cruel joke. You had just texted me an hour ago. I had told you to drive safe. I hated when you drove at night in them dark ass, country ass highways.

My roommate listened to me sob myself to sleep that night.


	18. Wrong

**Wrong**

I went to your funeral service. So many people showed up.

New friends, old friends. All your family. The old crew even came back.

Cindy was an absolute mess. You guys weren't on talking terms when the accident had happened.

Everybody sad, everybody speaking kind words about your character.

Kind. Smart. Beautiful. Endearing. Brave. On and on and on.

They were all right, too.

Your parents had you cremated since you had expressed how you wanted to be turned into a tree. It was fitting, I could picture you being a tree.

But the timing was all wrong. You were only 20.

Timing was all wrong.


	19. Forever

**Forever **

It was just a matter of time before I had to go back to school before I had to go back to school. It was mid semester and I had already missed a handful of classes.

Schools didn't seem to care about death unless it was immediate family.

Guess they didn't care that you were my girlfriend, the love of my life.

Despite how I felt, time had to keep going. I knew it couldn't stop for me.

What a terrible hand that I had been dealt. First my parents. Now my girlfriend. I must've done something terrible in a past life. Or maybe just bad luck. My family did always seem to be getting into things…

Before I left back for school, I went up to the hill where we had spent our youth at. I sat at the base of the tree, crying.

Remembering how we used to sit and watch the sunset, our hair blowing in the breeze. Or how we would tell secrets here and they'd never leave the hilltop.

Remembering when I told you that you weren't my best friend. That's because you were all that and more.

I looked at the tree trunk, where you had carved our initials that summer before going into college.

A part of me wanted to carve it out, keep it forever… but it felt right leaving it there. Because I knew that I'd love you forever.

I will always love you, Jazmine DuBois.


End file.
